That was not very clever: visiting the National Archaeological Museum on the last day of a two week trip through northern and central Greece. Of course, it was a nice summary of everything we’ve seen, but I think it would have been better to start over here. Ever a teacher, I might have used the museum’s splendid collection of sculpture to explain to my companions the development of Greek art.
That’s what you’ll find on the first floor: lots of sculpture in a series of rooms surrounding a large hall, which is devoted to Mycenaean art. There, you will find the golden objects from Mycenae that Schliemann found. The sculpture rooms surround it. Your tour starts with some kouroi and you can easily follow the growth to greater accuracy in representing the human body. When you’ve finished about a third of your tour, the Greek sculptors have mastered every aspect of anatomy, and you will pass along many classical sculptures, including two dazzling copies of the Diadumenus and the Cnidian Aphrodite. After that, more sculpture: the fourth century, Hellenism, and finally the Roman age.
On the ground floor, there’s also a series of rooms that contain metal art. Here, you will see the Anticythera Mechanism, but also collections of arrowheads from Marathon and Thermopylae. The Egyptian part – also on the ground floor – is a bit odd in a museum dedicated to Greek art, but the collection is too small to be exposed in a museum of its own and too important to keep stored away. In the Hellenistic part of the Egyptian collection, I noticed a statue of Hephaestion that I had never seen before.
Upstairs, you will find a marvelous collection of pottery and some objects that don’t fit anywhere else, like the Lemnian inscription, written in a language related to Etruscan. Next to it is a section dedicated to the investigations at Santorini, where some splendid frescoes have been found.
Do not forget to visit the basement. There’s a little café with a garden, where you will see some of the sculptures found in the Anticythera wreck. They have a certain beauty because they are partly eroded. I found the giant Heracles absolutely fascinating.
This museum was visited in 1989, 1992, 2004, 2007, 2010.
![](/site/assets/files/46019/thumbnail_mycenaean_dagger.jpg) Mycene, Dagger with lion hunt
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![](/site/assets/files/1526/thumbnail_trojan_warriors_nam.jpg) The fight for the body of Patroclus.
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![](/site/assets/files/63836/thumbnail_coin_eucratides_ii_numism_mus_athens.jpg) Eucratides II of Bactria
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![](/site/assets/files/47693/thumbnail_athens_kerameikos_siren_nam.jpg) Athens, Kerameikos, Siren
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![](/site/assets/files/58398/thumbnail_eleusis_warrior_350-325_nam1-1.jpg) Eleusis, Tombstone of a warrior
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![](/site/assets/files/57853/thumbnail_larissa_tombstone_polyxene_nam.jpg) Larisa, Tombstone of Polyxena
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![](/site/assets/files/65283/thumbnail_late_geometric_pyxis_agora_mus.jpg) Athens, Agora, Late Geometric pyxis
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![](/site/assets/files/59102/thumbnail_megara_dionysus_nam.jpg) Megara, Statue of Dionysus
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![](/site/assets/files/7468/thumbnail_hellenistic_ruler_nam1.jpg) Hellenistic ruler
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![](/site/assets/files/66978/thumbnail_piraeus_theater_dionysus_nam.jpg) Piraeus, Theater, Head of Dionysus (classicizing)
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![](/site/assets/files/45710/thumbnail_mycenaean_warriors_nam.jpg) Mycene, House of the Warrior Krater, Warrior Krater
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![](/site/assets/files/57842/thumbnail_argos_doryphoros_votive_nam.jpg) Argos, Relief of the Doryphorus of Polykleitos
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![](/site/assets/files/9112/thumbnail_thermopylae_arrowheads_nam1.jpg) Thermopylae, Arrowheads
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![](/site/assets/files/58395/thumbnail_triptolemos_mus_eleusis.jpg) Eleusis, Relief of Demeter, Triptolemus, and Kore
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![](/site/assets/files/22877/thumbnail_boy_lover_nam.jpg) Zeus and Ganymedes
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![](/site/assets/files/66977/thumbnail_piraeus_t_eetoneia_zeus_nam_1_nam.jpg) Piraeus, Head of a bearded god
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![](/site/assets/files/66508/thumbnail_thera_boxers_nam.jpg) Akrotiri, Building B, Room B1, Wall painting of boxers
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![](/site/assets/files/43285/thumbnail_lemnos_stele_nam.jpg) Lemnos, Tombstone of an Etruscan (?) warrior
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![](/site/assets/files/1635/thumbnail_dodona_zeus_keraunos_nam1.jpg) Dodona, Figurine of Zeus Keraunos
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![](/site/assets/files/57852/thumbnail_larisa_man_hat_nam1.jpg) Larisa, Tombstone of a man with a hat
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![](/site/assets/files/57708/thumbnail_aegina_tombstone_430-420_nam.jpg) Aegina, Tombstone of a young man, holding a bird
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![](/site/assets/files/57454/thumbnail_athens_kerameikos_myrthis1_nam.jpg) Athens, Kerameikos, Skull of Myrthis
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![](/site/assets/files/58198/thumbnail_athens_varvakeion_athena_nam.jpg) Athens, Varvakeion Athena
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![](/site/assets/files/47560/thumbnail_tefnakht_decree_nam.jpg) Decree of Tefnakht
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![](/site/assets/files/45723/thumbnail_epidaurus_nike_nam.jpg) Epidauros, Temple of Artemis, Nike
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![](/site/assets/files/56311/thumbnail_nysa_gerontikon_boy-with-dog_nam.jpg) Nysa, Bouleuterion, "Little Refugee"
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![](/site/assets/files/66506/thumbnail_thera_antelopes_nam.jpg) Akrotiri, Building B, Room B1, Wall painting of antelopes
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![](/site/assets/files/57863/thumbnail_odysseus_amphikleia_nam1.jpg) Gomphoi, Relief of Odysseus and Amphicleia
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![](/site/assets/files/46018/thumbnail_mycene_parisienne_nam2.jpg) Mycene, Wall painting ("La Parisienne")
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![](/site/assets/files/66261/thumbnail_chalkis-vromousa_woman_nam.jpg) Chalcis-Vromousa, Head of a woman (Roman copy of a Greek original)
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![](/site/assets/files/66982/thumbnail_piraeus_damasistrate_nam.jpg) Piraeus, Funerary stela of Damasistrate
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![](/site/assets/files/46164/thumbnail_corinth_hoplite_425-400_nam.jpg) Corinth, Relief of a hoplite
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![](/site/assets/files/59101/thumbnail_megara_general_sii_nam.jpg) Megara, Statue of a Roman emperor (Trajan or Hadrian)
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![](/site/assets/files/40269/thumbnail_alexandria_group_hephaestion_sibce_alexander_nam.jpg) Alexandria, Alexander the Great (part of a group with Hephaestion)
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![](/site/assets/files/1630/thumbnail_artemision_zeus_nam2.jpg) Artemisium, Statue of Zeus
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![](/site/assets/files/46152/thumbnail_corinth_demeter_plate_nam.jpg) Corinth, Plate with Demeter
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![](/site/assets/files/59207/thumbnail_wrestlers_nam2.jpg) Athens, Kerameikos, Base of the statue of a wrestler
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![](/site/assets/files/60930/thumbnail_eleusis_t_f_cecrops_herse_nam.jpg) Eleusis, Temple F, Cecrops and Herse
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![](/site/assets/files/57845/thumbnail_argos_heraion_t_hera_w_pediment_palladion_nam.jpg) Argos, Heraion, West pediment, Palladion
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![](/site/assets/files/6567/thumbnail_lycia_omphale_nam2.jpg) Lycian portrait of Omphale
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![](/site/assets/files/11484/thumbnail_alexandria_group_hephaestion_sibce_hephaestion2_nam.jpg) Alexandria, Hephaestion (part of a group with Alexander)
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![](/site/assets/files/1399/thumbnail_megiste_bellerophon_nam1.jpg) Megiste, Bellerophon sarcophagus.
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![](/site/assets/files/47574/thumbnail_thebes_horwedja_nam.jpg) Thebes (?), Block statue of Prince Horwedja, governor and high priest in Heliopolis
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![](/site/assets/files/57709/thumbnail_aegina_t_apollo_warrior_nam.jpg) Aegina, Temple of Apollo, Statue of a wounded warrior
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![](/site/assets/files/58225/thumbnail_athena_nam.jpg) Lead figurine of Athena
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![](/site/assets/files/57844/thumbnail_argos_heraion_t_hera_metopes_amazonomachy1_nam.jpg) Argos, Heraion, Amazonomachy
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![](/site/assets/files/9344/thumbnail_athens_t_zeus_polemo_nam2.jpg) Athens, Temple of Zeus, Portrait of Polemo of Laodicea
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![](/site/assets/files/17286/thumbnail_aeolian-ionian_capital_oropos_nam1.jpg) Oropos, Aeolian-Ionic capital
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![](/site/assets/files/64903/thumbnail_melos_poseidon_125-100_nam.jpg) Melos, Statue of Poseidon
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![](/site/assets/files/16880/thumbnail_aegina_ptolemy_vi_philometor_nam.jpg) Aegina, Ptolemy VI Philometor
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![](/site/assets/files/10416/thumbnail_sparta_aquilia_severa_nam1.jpg) Sparta, Statue of Julia Aquilia Severa, damaged after her death
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![](/site/assets/files/7624/thumbnail_julian_nam.jpg) Piraeus, Julian the Apostate
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![](/site/assets/files/58406/thumbnail_eleusis_drunken_heracles_sibce_nam.jpg) Eleusis, Relief of a drunk Heracles
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![](/site/assets/files/46289/thumbnail_smyrna_titus_nam.jpg) Smyrna, Portrait of Caligula, reworked to resemble Titus
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![](/site/assets/files/47681/thumbnail_athens_dipylon_krater_sviii_nam1.jpg) Athens, Kerameikos, Dipylon krater
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![](/site/assets/files/45646/thumbnail_thebes_artemis_350-300_nam.jpg) Thebes, Head of Artemis
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![](/site/assets/files/66981/thumbnail_piraeus_votive_dionysus-actors_nam.jpg) Piraeus, Votive stela of a reclining Dionysus
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![](/site/assets/files/57850/thumbnail_pharsalus_calyx_homeric_scenes_nam1.jpg) Pharsalus, Krater with a four-horse chariot
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![](/site/assets/files/7475/thumbnail_athens_agora_stoa_attalus_attalus_ii_nam.jpg) Athens, Stoa of Attalus, Attalus II Philadelphus
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![](/site/assets/files/59123/thumbnail_eretria_gymnasium_cleonicos_nam.jpg) Eretria, Gymnasium, Statue of Cleonicus
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![](/site/assets/files/57843/thumbnail_argos_heraion_t_hera_sima_nam.jpg) Argos, Heraion, Sima
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![](/site/assets/files/46020/thumbnail_mycenaean_helmet_nam.jpg) Mycene, Boar's tusk helmet
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![](/site/assets/files/66980/thumbnail_piraeus_grave_stele_400-375_nam.jpg) Piraeus, Funerary stela with ball players
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![](/site/assets/files/6062/thumbnail_marathon-arrowheads.jpg) Marathon, Arrowheads
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![](/site/assets/files/57846/thumbnail_argos_theater_aphrodite_sibce_nam.jpg) Argos, Theater, Statue of Aphrodite
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![](/site/assets/files/47694/thumbnail_athens_minotaur_nam_jvv.jpg) Athens, Statue of a Minotaur
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![](/site/assets/files/45645/thumbnail_thebes_tombstone_420-400_nam.jpg) Thebes, Tombstone
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![](/site/assets/files/57923/thumbnail_lebadeia_trophonius_nam1.jpg) Lebadeia, Relief of Trophonius
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![](/site/assets/files/58208/thumbnail_athens_pnyx_athena_nam.jpg) Athens, Pnyx, Lenormant Athena
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![](/site/assets/files/66302/thumbnail_sais_t_neith_pennu_nam.jpg) Sais, Temple of Neith, Statuette
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![](/site/assets/files/57840/thumbnail_argos_heraion_t_hera_w_pediment_head_hera_nam.jpg) Argos, Heraion, West pediment, Head of Hera
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![](/site/assets/files/59206/thumbnail_olympia_boxer_nam.jpg) Olympia, Head of the boxer Satyros
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![](/site/assets/files/46022/thumbnail_mycenaean_pegasus_nam.jpg) Mycene, Wall painting of a griffin with a warrior
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![](/site/assets/files/66976/thumbnail_piraeus_munichia_persephone_420-410_nam.jpg) Piraeus, Statue of a woman or Demeter
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![](/site/assets/files/40241/thumbnail_athens_kerameikos_alexander_nam1.jpg) Athens, Kerameikos, Alexander with a Lion's Pelt
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![](/site/assets/files/59122/thumbnail_eretria_lekythos_450-440_nam.jpg) Eretria, Lekythos (Bosanquet Painter)
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